Cheat Sheet

Homeschooling For Dummies

Although homeschooling is clearly done in the home, all sorts of homeschooling resources are available on the Internet. You can access invaluable Web sites devoted to homeschooling and tap into magazines targeted to, or at least friendly to, homeschooled students. As a homeschool teacher, you need to keep track of various useful people and be able to calculate a grade point average when your homeschooled scholar ventures into the wider world.

Invaluable Web Sites for Homeschoolers

Homeschoolers know that hopping onto the Web is always more useful when you know where you're going and what you expect to find when you get there. The Web sites in the following list all offer solid educational material — some contain great articles worth reading; others offer online lesson plans or other educational helps:

Invaluable Magazines for Homeschoolers

When you want to read a homeschooling or educational periodical, the titles in the following table are a good example of the breadth available. Find a title that intrigues you and request a sample copy or find it at your local bookstore or library. Each title caters to a slightly different readership, so you may need to read one or two before you find the one that suits your taste. Some of the periodicals listed here are designed for homeschoolers; others are written for children who aren't necessarily homeschooled but whose publishers and content embrace homeschooling.

How to Calculate Grade Point Averages for Homeschooled Students

If you're homeschooling, you may not give your children traditional grades — many homeschoolers don't. However, there may come a time when your homeschooled student enters public school or wants to apply to a college, so you need to figure out a grade point average, or GPA. To do that, follow the steps in the following list:

Assign a point value to the final grade.

Generally A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, and F = 0.

Multiply the grade value by the amount of credit for that particular course.

This gives you the number of grade points for the course in question. To make it easy for everyone, most courses equal one unit. This gives a one-semester course that was worth one credit a final point value of 4 (assuming your stellar student got an A.)

Add all the grade points for the semester, year, or four years, depending on the span of time you want the grade average to reflect.

This gives you a total number of grade points. If your mythical stellar student takes two courses and gets an A and a B, the total grade points would be 7.

Divide the grade point total by the total number of classes.

This gives you a grade-point average, otherwise known as a GPA. Your stellar student receives a GPA of 3.5 because 7 (the total grade points) divided by 2 (the number of classes taken) equals 3.5.

Keeping Track of Homeschool Resource People

As a homeschool, you're often out on your own — just you and the students you're teaching. But teachers need outside resources, especially homeschool teachers, so keep a list of people you can call for support or clarification. Some of the numbers you may want to have on hand include: